My motherboard is screwing with me..

Alright, excuse my bluntness, but this is really frustrating.

I have 2 computers. For the sake of clarity, lets call the newer one computer a, and the older one computer b.

My  PCI wireless NIC stopped working in computer a after I moved my computers. (It was originally from computer b). So, I tried reseating it (multiple times) to no avail.

I have 2 pci slots in computer a; one has a wired NIC and the other has a Wireless NIC (this is the card I am having trouble with). To test whether the PCI slot that the Wireless NIC was in wasn't bad, I switched the Wireless and Wired NIC's slots. Again, the wired NIC worked fine and the Wireless NIC wasn't even detected (nothing in device manager). *note that the drivers shipped with the part was installed.
 

Then, since the Wireless NIC didn't work in computer a, I tried it in computer b to test whether the Wireless NIC was bad. It worked fine, so I left it in computer b.


So, I chalked it up to an oddity and bought a shiny new PCI Wireless NIC.

Its working the same way the other Wireless NIC did.. Computer a did not detect it no matter which slot it was in, even tho the Wired NIC was detected in every slot. (The new Wireless NIC also  works in computer b aswell.)

So, either the motherboard in computer a doesn't like wireless NIC's (two of the cards I have tried work fine in computer b, but aren't even detected in computer a - wired NICs apparently work fine though) OR, my motherboard is   with me.

I hope someone has the answer to my problem, and isn't scared away by the length of my post and the overly complicated way I explained it... I really just want to be able to use the internet again.

Thanks for reading,
NNJZ
(Formerly known as Image).

If the troubleshooting that you did was accurate, and it sounds like it is then I would say it's a faulty motherboard.

i dont have much experience in computer but ur problem i think its dust affecting you motherboard

If the troubleshooting that you did was accurate, and it sounds like it is then I would say it's a faulty motherboard.

Is there any definitive diagnostic test I can run to be sure? Is this something my local computer store would be able to disgnose and/or fix?

i dont have much experience in computer but ur problem i think its dust affecting you motherboard

In the meanwhile, Ill grab a can of compressed air and clean it out.. hopefully it will make a difference.

-NNJZ


OH, by the way; I had forgotten to mention that althought the PCI Wireless NIC is not detected in Computer a, the LED Activity Light does come on!

Cleaning out the dust is always a great idea, as to a test for the motherboard I couldn't tell you.  There are a lot of benchmark and burnin software suites available, but I don't know if any will actually identify a motherboard as failing.

I just just have a hunch based on the trouble shooting that you have already done.

If you want any links to some burn in software, just ask, I'm sure we all have one we can post for you.

...So, I chalked it up to an oddity and bought a shiny new PCI Wireless NIC...

What you have encountered is not all that uncommon, in my experience.  The PCIbus has undergone a number of modifications and upgrades over the years and is supposed to be backward compatible.  This makes the assumption that the designers of the motherboard and the add-in cards both follow the standard to the letter.  They may or may not do this, but I am not surprised that a newer motherboard will not see a card that could have been designed to an older standard.

I have no explanation as to why a working card stopped working.

Alright.. I'll try to play with both cards some more, and try to get atleast ONE to work in computer a... otherwise that computer is next to useless to me..

I wonder if Ill have the same problem with a PCI E NIC..